Somerset native trains Marines to lead the charge

They call themselves "the aggressive tip of the U.S. military spear," a "small, dynamic force" that's leading the charge into Baghdad.

Sgt. Dallas W. Miller, a Somerset native, trains these people.

They are the few. The proud. The Marines.

"I train non-infantry soldiers in a 22-day package that encompasses basic infantry skills to prepare them for war," Miller said Friday in a telephone interview from his home outside Camp Lejeune, N.C., where the training takes place.

"A basic Marine Corps motto is 'Every Marine is a rifleman." Everybody has to know how to survive on a battlefield."

Sgt. Miller is assigned to the Marine Combat Training Battalion, School of Infantry, at the base, where non-infantry soldiers such as mechanics, clerks and cooks learn battlefield skills.

Advertisement

Miller said it is important that soldiers are able to defend themselves even as "they're working on trucks, fixing weapons or purifying water."

In Iraq, non-infantry soldiers are responsible for protecting the vital supply lines that feed troops fighting on the front lines. In many instances, non-infantry soldiers supply weapons and equipment, making them a primary target.

"We don't train them to go out and perform all sorts of high-speed special ops missions," he said. "But they have to know how to survive in a war."

Miller, and about 150 non-commissioned officers in his battalion, teach the soldiers how to use small weapons. Lessons also include navigation, patrolling and defensive tactics and how to survive a nuclear, biological or chemical attack.

"It's a science. We have it down really well. We do a good job with what we've got," he said. "The Marine Corps has always been good at taking a bad situation and making the best of it. That's what we do."

Most of the training takes place in the field, over the course of 22 days. Miller's last class graduated on April 1. He has another later this month.

"We start work when it's dark and come home when it's dark," he said. "It really makes you appreciate the five to 10 days you have off."

Miller has been training Marines at Camp Lejeune since December 2000.

Previously, he was deployed to the Mediterranean and spent time in Kosovo as part of an international peace-keeping mission. "They called it a 'show of force' operation," he said.

During the six-month deployment with a Marine expeditionary unit, Miller visited eight countries, including Israel.

"We saw everything from Jesus' birthplace to where he was crucified," he said.

Miller also visited the Vatican and the Coliseum in Rome, Italy.

"It was a real pleasure. A real treat," he said.

From 1998 to early 1999, Miller was part of a security force at Guatanamo Bay in Cuba.

"Have you ever seen the movie 'A Few Good Men?' Well we guarded the fence-line," he said.

Miller graduated from Somerset Area High School in 1997, and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps the same year.

The 24-year-old has risen quickly through the ranks, becoming a sergeant in just his third year in the service. He is proud of his progress.

"We're a smaller unit," he said. "Promotions are more competitive. It's a much keener process. Only the best get promoted."

Miller is scheduled to leave the school in December, though he doesn't expect that to happen with war raging in Iraq and military operations still underway in Afghanistan.

"The last six months have been crazy," he said. "Everybody's overseas. There's nobody here to replace me."

Like many soldiers serving stateside, Miller said he feels a little uneasy about not being with his peers overseas.

"I'm sitting on the sidelines. It's like you're training for the big ball game. You do two-a-days everyday all summer long. But when the first ball game comes, they put you on the bench," he said. "But I'm not stressing. I have an important job. I train the people who go over there."

Miller lives in Jacksonville with his wife, the former Heather Hottle, and son Elias, 2.

He is the son of Dale and Sandra Miller of Somerset and has a sister, Tonya Barta, who lives in Shanksville.

Dale Miller said his son is the latest in a long line of Miller men who have served in the military. That line dates to the Civil War.

"I served in the Army in Vietnam," the elder Miller said. "It's a matter of fine family pride that every male, as far back as we can trace, has served in the military. The family has had somebody in every war and conflict."

The elder Miller said he is proud of his son, who knew he wanted to serve his country as a sophomore in high school.